Silvertips Edge Cougars 3-2

By 250 News

They say hockey is a game of inches and that sure was true Friday night when the Cougars hosted the Everett Silvertips to kick off a weekend doubleheader.  Cougars forward Taylor Makin had a chance to put the Cougars on even terms with the Silvertips late in the third frame on a penalty shot, with the 'Tips leading 3-2.  The great move, however, was equalled by a great save from Kent Simpson, who kept Everett ahead and take the first game of the two game set at CN Centre.

The Cougars and Silvertips were playing for the third time this season and first in Prince George.  The clubs were playing for the second time in less than a week, after Simpson made 24 saves February 27 in a 5-0 shut-out win over the Cougars.  Prince George opened the season series with a 3-2 shoot-out victory in Everett December 11.  The winning goaltender in that game was Hudson Stremmel and he was back in goal for the Cougars Friday.  Stremmel's mates gave him a 2-0 lead to work with early in the first period.  Greg Fraser, playing along-side Carter Rigby and Wilson Dumais, would cash in his sixth goal of the season, after Art Bidlevskii fired a shot from the right point that Fraser deflected towards the goal, but was blocked.  However, Fraser picked the puck up again and on the backhand beat Simpson blocker side for a 1-0 Cougars lead at 2:57.  The Cougars would add to it on the power play when Parker Stanfield picked up the loose puck at the left side of the Silvertips goal and fired a low shot between the legs of Simpson to put the Cougars up 2-0 at 4:38.  Hard work from Nick Buonassisi earned him an assist on Stanfield's 11th goal of the season, and leading scorer Alex Rodgers also got an assist.  The Cougars carried the play up until the first period time-out, but after the 90 second break, the tide turned.  Shane Harper buried his 40th goal of the year to get the Silvertips on the board at 12:23 and Daniel Iwanski nabbed his 9th of the season at 13:53 to tie the game at two.  The shots advantage went to the Cougars, out-shooting the Silvertips 17-14.

The highlight of the second period was the Cougars penalty killing, which didn't see much ice time in the game, but the time they got was filled with pressure.  The Silvertips had a 46 second 5-on-3 power play, but Stremmel and the Cougars shut it down, making Prince George 12-for-15 killing off two man advantages this season and 10-for-11 at home.  The game stayed tied at two through two periods, with the Cougars out-shooting Everett 8-7 in the second frame.

Early in the third period, the ice was broken by the Silvertips on the 2-2 tie.  Iwanski fired a shot from the right face-off circle that went through Stremmel, who appeared screened on the shot, giving the Silvertips a 3-2 lead.  The Cougars fought to tie the game and Makin took a loose puck at the Silvertips blue-line, looking for a breakaway goal.  But Makin was taken down from behind and was awarded a penalty shot at 16:54.  Makin went straight up the middle on Simpson and when it appeared he was about to shoot, Makin pulled the puck back and tried to lift it into the top half of the net.  He didn't get under it enough, though, as the puck hit the top half of Simpson's pad, but still fluttered towards the goal line.  Simpson, down on his stomach, reached out with the glove hand and rescued the puck from going over the goal line, keeping the game in Everett's favour at 3-2.  That was the best chance the Cougars had in the final few minutes, as the Silvertips held on for the 3-2 win, improving their record to 43-19-3-2.  The shots were even at nine a side and the Cougars out-shot Everett 34-30 in the game.  The Cougars were 1-for-4 on the power play while the Silvertips went 0-for-2.

With the loss, the Cougars fall to 11-52-1-2 and will look to salvage a weekend split when they host the Silvertips again on Saturday night.  The game will be the last for the Cougars against the very difficult US Division this season, which has three teams, Tri-City, Spokane and Portland, also recording 40 wins on along with Everett.  Puck drop is 7:00 and tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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